In June, Gov. Rick Perry announced that Chevron would be handed a $12 million grant to build a new office tower in Houston. Documents show that Chevron plans to use the money to pay for its employees’ relocation costs.

Three months after an Observer investigation exposed how some payday loan companies are aggressively pursuing criminal charges against their customers, the state body that oversees the industry has issued an advisory telling companies to stop the practice.

At the Texas Municipal League’s annual convention in Austin on Thursday, city officials from across the state gathered to encourage each other to pass regulations on payday and auto-title lending, an unregulated sector many consider usurious, if not predatory, and to discuss ways to defend against the industry’s lawsuits.

Friday morning, Austin City Council upheld a decision to revoke a $3.8 million incentive deal with Indiana-based developer White Lodging. Labor groups say the company violated a prevailing wage agreement and underpaid its employees.